AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX

So, the first race of the 2017 Formula 1 season is gone. It was a double-point finish for us: Carlos P8 and Daniil P9. Here our team and drivers' reaction at the end of the Australian Grand Prix.

Carlos Sainz (STR12-03, Car 55)Race: pos. 8th

"A tricky race! Obviously, with this new generation of cars, we didn't know really what to expect, but to finish P8 is a decent result I'm happy with. It's a shame that soon after the pit-stop we lost the position to Perez. I struggled after having to let Daniil and the two Mercedes by, as my tyre temperatures dropped down a bit and it took me some time to get back into rhythm. Towards the end of the race I was coming fast, catching the Force India, and I got quite close to overtaking him - if only there had been a few more laps, I could've given it a try. This race weekend was definitely a confidence boost for the whole team – to get both cars into Q3 yesterday and end with a double-points finish today is a really good start and now we need to make sure we keep on going like this."

Daniil Kvyat (STR12-01, Car 26)Race: pos. 9th

"What a good race! It was just a shame that we had to make an extra stop during the final laps, as we had to fill my car with air again... If it hadn't been for that, P7 was definitely on the table and we were fighting for it well! The team has done a fantastic job all weekend and I'm very glad about that – congratulations and thank you everyone! We now need to keep pushing and fighting for more points like today. Physically speaking, it wasn't an easy race but I felt good the whole time – I need to thank my trainer for that, we worked very well throughout the whole winter! All in all, a good way to start the season, showing strong pace and with both cars in the points; now we can start to prepare for China and we can all be pleased with ourselves."

Franz Tost (Team Principal):

"We started today's race from eighth and ninth position on the grid, after performing well in yesterday's qualifying session and getting both cars into Q3. This shows that our complete package is very competitive and this is certainly encouraging. In today's race, both drivers did a good start and defended their positions well. Perez drove quite a solid race, overtaking both Carlos and Daniil, therefore finishing ahead of us. I think that, under other circumstances, we could have caught him back, but unfortunately we lost around ten seconds of time as we had to fill air twice in Daniil's car. At the end of the race, Carlos got quite close to the Force India driver in seventh place, but because of the blue flags for the leading cars he lost contact. After that, there were not enough laps remaining for him to try and overtake the Mexican. Generally speaking, the car showed a good performance and our pit-stops worked very well. I'd like to congratulate the organizers of this race, as they did a fantastic job during the whole race weekend, attracting many fans – it was nice to see a full house. The race itself was also interesting, as it was Ferrari who won, with Mercedes finishing close behind. I think this will become a very interesting fight throughout the whole year. I'd like to congratulate our ex-driver Sebastian for the race win today, he really deserved it!"